From ISA Industry News May 4

Distracted driving: it’s a strategy that some opposed to electronic message centers frequently cite as a reason to prevent installation of these signs.

Yet research published by the Signage Foundation shows there is no statistical correlation between the installation of a new EMC and an increase in traffic accidents.

The research was conducted at Texas A&M University by H. Gene Hawkins, Jr., Ph.D., P.E., associate professor and research engineer, Zachry Department of Engineering, Texas A&M University; Pei-Fen Kuo, graduate research assistant, Texas A&M Transportation Institute; and Dominique Lord, Ph.D., associate professor and research engineer, Zachry Department of Engineering, Texas A&M University.

While this topic has been studied by others, the Texas A&M research used an advanced statistical model and a larger sample size. It assessed sites in four states, using crash data from the Federal Highway Administration’s Highway Safety Information System.

The research involved a review of previous studies, including hypotheses that on-premise business signs distract drivers, leading to higher crash rates, and that on-premise business signs might mask the visibility of regulatory and warning road signs, also increasing crash risk. It also explored whether factors such as sign color, size and business type would influence safety, finding no statistically significant difference.

“Statistical Analysis of the Relationship between On-Premise Digital Signage and Traffic Safety” is available here.